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Julia Irwin is a national disgrace

The Hattip for this post goes to Speak Up For Israel, a Perth based blog that is well worth following for Israel advocates.  Speak Up For Israel drew my attention to the Paliamentary speech below.

The soon to be retiring MP for Fowler, NSW, Julia Irwin has a track record for pathological hatred towards Israel.  In the Parliamentary session of Wednesday, 23 June 2010 made a constituency statement.  This is on record on page 112 of the Hansard

Australian’s need to be aware of the vile statements of Ms Irwin and why they are so inaccurate. 

 (Fowler) (9.39 am)—The development of Israeli settlements in the West Bank continues unabated. With the world occupied in getting the parties to the negotiating table, the reality on the ground is changing to the point that a real and meaningful settlement based on a two-state solution may soon become practically  unachievable. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is being painted into such a corner as will prevent him from agreeing to any peace plan that does not provide the Palestinian people with a meaningful unified state and not a series of fractured Palestinian cities and towns.

 Julia Irwin fails to note that Israel has offered direct and unconditional peace talks to Mahmoud Abbas several times in the past few months, and that this demand has been rejected.  She fails to note that the USA has led a charge to embrace Hamas that in turns weakens Abbas with his own constituency.  She fails to note that the Palestinian Authority administration of Abbas still broadcasts hate speech and teaches kids to aspire towards a world without Israel, and that Abbas continues to breach his obligations to the Roadmap peace plan. 

The building of the so-called separation wall has only increased the likelihood of this occurring. The wall goes beyond the internationally recognised West Bank border with Israel. Clearly it is designed not to keep out the terrorists but, rather, to seize additional territory to be claimed in any settlement by Israel under the pretext of security. It divides Palestinian farms, divides Palestinian families and even denies access to Arab universities. Further, it is designed to inconvenience the Palestinian people by surrounding towns, denying access and rendering the ability to lead a normal life impossible. Encouraging Palestinians to leave the territories and the building of Israeli-only roads leads one to think that Israeli governments intend this as their permanent solution.

Maybe Ms Irwin would like to provide some statistics relating to the number of terrorist attacks that occurred before the wall was built, and to compare this to the number of terrorist attacks that have occurred since the wall was built?  For comparative measure the number of attempted and thwarted unsuccessful terrorist attacks could also be worth reviewing.  Some information about the roads that have been opened up, the checkpoints that have been relaxed and the other measures taken to facilitate Palestinian transit where the terror threat is reduced may also show just how incorrect and wrong this statement is.  If you were to drive down your so called “Israeli only roads” you would happen to see a large amount of Palestinian traffic.

As the Israeli government drive this settlement bus at breakneck speeds they are driving the state of Israel to the edge of an abyss that endangers its existence as a Jewish state. It is very simple. More settlement construction means that a viable Palestinian state is unachievable. More settlement construction will make it impossible to resettle Israelis from the occupied territories. More settlement construction means the Israeli army will be unable or even unwilling to remove settlers by force to facilitate any peace agreement. Many settlers are on the public record as saying they will not leave and will violently resist any attempt to remove them from the biblical lands of Judea and Samaria. This claim is no more valid than the Italian Prime Minister whipping out maps of the former Roman Empire and laying claim to larger tracts of Europe, the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.

 The argument is nonsensical. But the Jewish people will be left in charge of an apartheid state, ruling second-class citizens with limited rights. This is no more acceptable to the rest of the world than the former apartheid regime in South Africa.

Actually, Julia, Israeli has had a freeze on all “settlement” activity for the past 9 months.  Instead of embracing the gesture, it has been spat on, with only the request for more concessions.  The vast majority of your so called settlers are compliant with their Governments law.  Don’t you remember the scenes of 8,000 Israeli’s walking peacefully from their homes in tears when Israel mistakenly abandoned Gush Katif?  Where was the violence then? 

Why do you dismiss the Jewish claim to Judea and Samaria?  Why do the legal land purchases of Gush Etzion and surrounding territories (made in the late 19th century) hold no standing?  Or the Israeli victory in the six day war?  Or the continued presence of Jews on that land for the past 2,000 years? 

Your use of the emotionally loaded term “apartheid” is an insult.  Ms Irwin, you live in a Country where you have the democratic and free right to make these statements in Parliament.  You totally abuse that right and the responsibility of that right by making inaccurate and damning statements that invert the truth.  I ask you, if a member of the Australian Parliament stood up and burnt the Israeli flag, and made statements that said Australia has no right to exist, would you consider that to be acceptable conduct, or a breach of the patriotic duty of Australians?  Well guess what.  Israel is a democracy, and it has Parliamentarians that burn the Israeli flag, sail through military defence lines with terrorists, and deny the right of Israel to be a Jewish nation.  I don’t think Australians would tolerate that type of conduct.  Why do you think that Israeli’s should have to?

How about focussing the precious parliamentary house of Australia on what will constructively bring peace?  How about looking at what Israel has offered, why it has been rejected, and why it is that Israel needs to place defensive measures in place to protect the lives of its citizens?  How about holding Palestinians to account for their leadership’s failure to accept the mere existence of the nation State of Israel as the world’s only Jewish state?  

Julia Irwin, you are a national disgrace, and your distorted accusations against the nation of Israel are historically inaccurate, and politically destructive.  You do not deserve to be a respected member of the Australian Parliament or of the Australian Labour Party.  Your departure from Australia’s House of Representatives  is welcomed.

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